Kyoto Summer Travel Advice

I went to pay some bills today. There were tons of foreigners everywhere. I suppose it is summer break so people travel as families and students make trips they have saved up for. Here is my advice to you about traveling to Kyoto in the summer: Don't! Don't do it. I was born and raised in Florida. I have lived in Richmond, Austin, Tuscaloosa and Miyazaki so I am no stranger to summer heat. I am ok with it. But this just must be a miserable way to travel. Doing anything in the middle of the day is just torture. A lot of main attractions in Kyoto close around 4pm so it isn't like you can stay in in the day and go in the evening. Fall or spring are far more reasonable. If you do have to come in the summer, get a place to stay downtown, or ate least in Higashiyama. Go out in the morning, go back for a nap from 12-5, then go back out in the evening. Kyoto is beautiful enough at night and cools down a lot when the breezes shift to coming down from the mountains. Of course, you will have to miss a lot of temples but I would argue for walking the various rivers and canals and viewing Jinjas, which are open at all times of day, at night. It is too hot to force yourself to enjoy. I am not going back out until the sun starts going down. There were also 9 million hot chicks downtown today....coincidence? ---